Xylophone construction



H. ZIMMERMAN XYLOPHONE CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct.

March 22, 1955 INVENTOR: HARRY ZIMMERMAN ATTORNEY United States Patent XYLOPHONE CONSTRUCTION Harry Zimmerman, New York, N. Y.

Application October 21, 1953, Serial No. 387,419 3 Claims. (Cl. 84-403) My invention relates to toy musical instruments of the Xylophone type, and one of its objects is to facilitate the assemblage of such an instrument.

Other objects are to provide a toy Xylophone with a supporting frame molded in one integral piece, to affix to this frame a resonant board, to provide the frame with lateral channels, to provide tone bars supported on the resonant board and reaching into these channels, and, by all these means, to improve the sound quality of the xylophone.

Further objects are to provide tone bars which are so supported that the can vibrate freely and which are prevented from excessive movement or from substantial dislocation, to insert these bars into slots of the frame from the lower side and close the bottom of these slots by the sound board whereby the connection of this board with the frame is substantially the only connection re quired to secure the assemblage of the entire Xylophone, and whereby the instrument can be easily and quickly assembled in upside-down turned position.

Still other objects are to provide the frame with downward extending studs and to provide the board with corresponding perforations in such a manner that these studs penetrate and engage the board readily when the board is pressed against the same, and thereby to facilitate further the assemblage of the instrument.

Still other objects and advantages will appear from the following description of an exemplifying embodiment of my invention, from the appended claims and from the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of an illustrative embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a bottom view of the same embodiment, a portion of the .sound board being broken off.

Fig. 3 shows a cross-section taken along the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, numeral 1 indicates a frame made or molded in one piece and comprising feet 2, two end sides 4 and 5 and two converging longitudinal sides 6 and 7. The latter frame sides are positioned along opposite sides of the space surrounded by the frame 1 and form elongated channels. The frame side 6 has a top or upper wall 8, an outer wall 9 and an inner wall 11. The frame side 7 may have a portion 12 of slightly larger cross-section than the side 6 and has an upper wall 13, an outer wall 14 and an inner wall 15. The top wall 13 may be slightly inclined to form a well visible surface for the application of indicia (not shown) which identify the tones produced by the tone bars which will be described later. ,The inner walls 11 and 15 extend along opposite sides of the inner space of the frame and have slots 16 extending from the lower edges of these walls vertically upward. The slots 16 of the wall 11 are juxtaposed to identical slots of the wall 15.

The outer walls 9 and 14 extend preferably farther down than the inner walls 11 and 15. The frame 1 further comprises vertical studs 17 which have preferably cylindrical shape and extend down beyond the inner walls of the frame. For example, one row of studs 17 is positioned in each channeled frame side 6 and 7 immediately at the inner wall thereof, and identical studs may be similarly positioned in similar channels formed by the end sides 4 and 5 of the frame.

A sound board 18 is positioned under and in contact with the inner walls 11 and 15. The board 18 extends preferably over the entire area of the inner space of the;

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frame 1 and of its side channels and contacts the outer walls 9 and 14 whereby the board closes the bottoms of these channels and of the slots 16. Relatively large openings or perforations 19 are provided in the board 18, preferably along a central line of this board. Smaller perforations are distributed in the board in the same number and configuration as the studs 17. These studs pass through the latter perforations with considerable friction whereby they engage the board and the latter is afiixed to the frame 1. The lower ends of the studs 17 may be slightly thickened in order to reinforce the connection between board and frame.

A strip of soft material, for example a fibrous cord or thick thread 21 is aflixed to the board 18 and extends along its upper side, preferably in the longitudinal direction of the frame. This strip may have two slightly converging portions (broken oif in Fig. 3) supported on the board, may pass through perforations near the longitudinal ends of the board and may have portions underlying the board and connecting the overlying portions to form an endless strip secured to the board.

A number of tone bars are arranged in parallel directions crossing the space between the longitudinal frame sides 6 and 7. These bars are tuned to different tones, preferably by providing them with different lengths. The longest and the shortest of these bars are indicated in the drawing by numerals 22 and 23 respectively. The tone bars may be made of any suitable material and may have cross-sections of any suitable shape. For example, each bar is a thin metal strip of an arc-shaped cross-section which is slightly concave at its lower side whereby each bar has two narrow longitudinal edges forming the bottom of the bar.

The tone bars rest with these edges on the strips 21 which, in turn, are supported by the board 18. Each bar has two, preferably narrowed end portions 24 which pass through juxtaposed slots 16 with a little clearance.

The described Xylophone is easily assembled in the following manner:

The frame 1 molded in one piece is placed in reverse or upside-down position whereby the slots 16 are open from above. Then, the tone bars are dropped or inserted in these slots. Then, the board 18 which has been pro vided with the strip 21 is pressed down so that the studs 17 penetrate and engage the corresponding perforations of the board. If desired, the ends of the studs 17 may be then slightly thickened, for example by application of heatland pressure if the frame is made of plastic materia After being assembled in this simple manner, the xylophone may be turned into its normal position whereby the tone bars come to rest on the strips 21 and the board 18. In this condition, the bars can swing freely in all directions and, hence, are adapted to produce clear and loud tones. At the same time, the bars are prevented from excessive dislocation by the longitudinal walls of the frame and are permanently secured to the frame-board assemblage whereby bars can not be lost.

The vibrations of the tone bars are transferred through the strip 21 to the sound board 18 which, due to its broad and apertured structure is highly resonant and, hence, increases the sound effect. A further increase of this effect results from the channeled structure of the frame to which the vibrations are transferred from the board 18. The clearness of the resonance produced by the board and by the frame is furthered by the one-piece structure of the frame, by the one-piece structure of the board and by the close connection of these elements by a large number of studs.

I desire it understood that my invention is not confined to the particular embodiment shown and described, the same being merely illustrative, and that my invention may be carried out in other ways within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention as it is obvious that the particular embodiment shown and described is only one of the many that may be employed to attain the objects of my invention.

Having described the nature of my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A Xylophone comprising a frame, vertical walls extending along opposite sides of the frame, studs extending downwardly beyond said walls and slots extending upwardly from the lower edges of said walls, a sound board underlying and contacting said walls whereby said board closes the bottoms of said slots, said board having small perforations with the said studs passing through said small perforations to engage said board to said walls, soft strips supported by said board, tone bars supported by said strips and having end portions inserted through said slots.

2. A Xylophone comprising a substantially horizontally positioned frame defining a substantially quadrangular space and having channeled sides extending along opposite sides of said space, said channelled sides having outer walls, upper walls and vertical inner walls provided with slots extending upwardly from the lower edges of said inner walls, studs extending downwardly beyond said vertical walls, a board afiixed to said frame extending from one of said outer walls to the other and underlining and contacting said inner walls, being locked into position by said studs extending through apertures in said board whereby said board closes the bottoms of said channelled sides and said slots, and tone bars having end portions passing through said slots into the interior of said channelled sides.

3. A xylophone comprising a frame having vertical walls extending along opposite side of the frame and studs extending downwardly beyond said walls and slots extending upwardly from the lower edges of said walls, a sound board underlying and contacting said walls whereby said board closes the bottoms of said slots, said board having small perforations with said studs passing through said perforations to engage said board to said walls, and tone bars supported by said board and having end portions inserted through said slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,323,132 Welch Nov. 25, 1919 2,330,166 Zimmerman Sept. 21, 1943 2,458,462 Zimmerman Jan. 4, 1949 

